Etched
by RosaRena-Sanity-Lost
Summary: Ringo is a normal girl, with a loving family and a wonderful best friend. The past seems erased, but is that all it is? Seems? Love is a hard thing to wipe away as the incompleteness of her heart grows with each day. Ringo learns that love is hard to forget, no matter how it is supposed to be. Sometimes things that are meant to stay lost resurface in the oddest ways. R & R


Ringo was a normal girl. She was ordinary. She had two normal, divorced parents, a step-sister she adored and a step-mother she tolerated. She had a best friend in the sweetest, cutest girl around who shared all the same interests as her and most of all, Ringo was happy.  
So why... so why did she feel so incomplete all the time? Why did she feel like she had no heart when it clearly was beating? Why was she so afraid of fire? Why? _Why?_  
She didn't know anything at all. That scared her. Ringo was scared and she didn't know what to do. But, that was to be excepted- after all, she was just a normal (_just?_ Sometimes she didn't believe that) who didn't know how to handle such questions.

_"I love you." _

Ringo awoke to a sudden chill. Her heart was beating in a frantic way and her breaths were halting. Sweat glistened on her face. Ringo sighed at this far too usual behavior. She always woke up like this, it was becoming a habit she had no control over. Ringo sighed and sat up in her bed. She wouldn't be able to go back to sleep in this state. She glanced at the clock- thankfully it was almost near the time for to _actually_ wake up. Too bad it was a day off. Sighing again, Ringo got off her bed and stretched. Once she was done her routine stretching, Ringo started towards the door.  
_"I love you."_  
Ringo stopped with her hand just barely touching the knob. The words echoed in her ears. Her eyes widened at the sound. Ringo turned sharply.  
"Who's there?! Show yourself!" she exclaimed.  
Not a sound could be heard. Not one little inkling of another seemed to be there at all. Needless to say, Ringo quickly felt stupid for thinking she heard anything. She was _alone_ in her room, no one could've possibly been here with her. She probably would've noticed early if anyone truly was. Ringo shook her head at her own paranoia and turned back around. This time, Ringo got out of the door without anymore noises that sounded suspiciously like words.  
Ringo had no idea that sentence she heard would be etched in the back of her mind for the rest of the day.

Ringo stopped at her best friend's, Himari, house. Like always, the redhead was waiting enthusiastically at the front door with a giant, cheerful grin.  
"Ringo!" the girl called.  
Ringo giggled at the vigor Himari held in those words.  
"Hey Himari!" greeted Ringo.  
Himari skipped towards her and gave Ring a large hug.  
"Are you ready to shop or what?"

Himari loved to get a daily amount of yarn. The girl had an odd obsession of knitting, it was terribly amusing to Ringo. Himari even taught her to knit!... even if Ringo proved to be a little more than bad at the skill. Himari always got a variety of different yarns almost every week. Barely ever the same.  
Well, expect when it came to the colors red and blue. The yarns that were those colors were always the same shade, the same type and always the same brand. Strangely, the only things Himari ever made out of those colors were scarves. Plain, simply created scarves that Himari horded. Sometimes Himari gave Ringo the newest blue scarf of her creation. Maybe it was also because Ringo seemed to gravitate to that color every time.  
Maybe, Himari gave her those blue scarves because the blue seemed match Ringo's own brand of brown. Really though, Ringo didn't know why but chose to not question it. She appreciated anyways.  
"Ringo, you've been spacing out the whole time we've been here! I've even gotten all the yarns I need!" complained Himari.  
Himari pouted at her over the stack of her goods. Ringo snapped out of her daze.  
"Dang, _again?_ Sorry, Himari, I really don't mean anything by it..." apologized Ringo.  
Himari rolled her eyes childishly. But, she brightened quickly.  
"It's okay, but we oughta go buy this all!" told Himari.  
Ringo smiled.  
"Yeah, we better do that," replied Ringo.  
Himari smiled and walked to the cash register. Ringo hesitated a bit before joining her. Himari made the transition quickly and they were out the door before it fully registered in Ringo's mind on what they were doing.  
"That was good! Now I have so much to knit! I think I'm going to knit a sweater- a patterned sweater! I feeling adventurous about this, care to join me on my adventure Ringo?" rambled on Himari.  
She talked rapidly, it nearly always took a while for Ringo to process the sentences.  
"Not this time Himari, all your 'adventures' seem to include me getting tangled somehow," giggled Ringo.  
Himari giggled as well.  
"Oh yeah, you _do_ get tangled a whole lot..." chimed in Himari.  
The two girls giggled at the memories of a many knitting sessions that turned wary for Ringo. Ringo liked being with Himari, she always felt comfortable with her... ever since that _incident._ It was never a dull moment with her. While that incident was a mystery to how it happened, Ringo appreciated it (_"I love you"_). At least she got to find a friend like Himari in all of that mess.  
(Even if hurt needlessly whenever she thought about it) It was fate that they met. (Why did that thought hurt so much?)

Ringo was a normal girl. She really was. But, it didn't take a genius to figure that something was wrong.

_"Oginome-san_  
_ I love you."_


End file.
